My Day In Heartland
by Acelin Heart
Summary: A girl goes to Heartland to visit her older brother running into a few familiar faces on the way!


I do not own Heart No Kuni No Alice, including Ace, Julius, Alice, Peter, Boris, Elliot, the twins, Blood, or Vivaldi.

* * *

I honestly had no clue where I was going.

"Oh, brother, your 'map' isn't helpful at all," I groaned to myself as I looked down at his little hand drawn map. I thought about that stubborn love struck idiot with his loud mouth and goofy smile then sighed. That's what I get for having a brother in the Country of Hearts. "That idiot!" I grumbled, completely lost.

"Who's an idiot?" a familiar voice asked. I looked up to see a smiley, rust-colored-haired man.

"Ace!" I exclaimed.

"Visiting your brother, Rosie?" he asked.

"Yes, but that fool gave me a hopeless hand drawn map!" I complained. Ace laughed.

"I'll show you the way!" he said enthusiastically. I grimaced. Ace tended to get completely lost.

"I think I'll pass on that one," I smiled apologetically. "I'm pretty sure the Clock Tower is nearby." I slipped past Ace and wove my way through the trees. Sure enough, there was the Clock Tower. I crossed the stone courtyard and climbed the stairs. Finding Julius's office from there was simple. I knocked on the door.

"Come in," his even voice said. I opened the door and stepped into his office. He sat at the desk, his long purple-blue hair trailing down his back. Broken clocks scattered his desktop. Sitting across from him was a brunette I'd never seen before. She wore a blue and white short puffed sleeve gown with a blue ribbon in her hair. Julius looked up at me as he sipped from a mug. "Rose," he said in slight surprise. He rarely ever showed emotion. The brunette turned to look at me. She really was more of a cross between blond and brunette.

"Hey," I greeted. "Still fixing clocks I see." Julius regarded me normally.

"Of course. It's only been about three or so years," he responded evenly. "Come to visit your brother?" I sighed.

"That fool sent me some kind of hand drawn map," I complained.

"So you're lost," he concluded.

"I'm lost," I admitted.

"Heart Castle isn't horribly far," Julius said. "Maybe Alice can take you." The girl stood.

"Sure, I'll help," she responded. "I'm Alice Liddell."

"Rosalie." I told her with a thin smile. So this was the Alice girl brother had mentioned. We walked out of the clock tower and began our trek through the woods.

"So you haven't been here in a while?" Alice asked.

"I live in the Country of Clovers." I explained.

"That's nice," she said.

"The trees have changed since the last time I was here," I told her with a smile at the memory. "It makes it hard to find my way around."

Finally we arrived at Heart Castle.

"Alice! You've returned!" An annoyingly cheerful voice exclaimed in joy. I looked up slowly at the voice's owner. He had rabbit ears that poked out of his silver hair. He blinked at me under his circular glasses in curiosity. "Rosie?" I blinked back.

"Peter?" I replied. A smirk broke out over his face.

"You never change," he said smugly. I whacked him with a fingerless gloved hand.

"Says the one who still proudly walks around with rabbit ears!" I shot back.

"And you don't?" He pointed out. "Off with the silly hood!"

"Hey!" I protested as he pulled off my hood, swiftly revealing my white rabbit ears poking out of my curly silver hair that bounced around my shoulders. He was a good eight to ten inches taller than I was still. I gave him an annoyed push as he laughed. "Oh shush!" I crossed my arms in defiance.

"Ah, Alice!" Peter exclaimed. "The Queen is in a fit and requests your presence."

"Oh! I forgot Vivi was queen of Heartland!" I said to Peter.

"Yes!" He exclaimed. "Let's visit her! Come on then!" He took off into the hedge maze and Alice and I exchanged glances before following. "Oh bother, it's that cat again," Brother said after walking for a minute or so. He pulled out his gun and pointed it at a hedge. "Well, come on out then, Cheshire." A head poked over the hedge.

"And what fun would that be?" The man asked. He had purple hair and pink and purple striped cat ears with various earrings. He had a triangle tattoo under each eye. His face lit up when he saw us. "Ah! Alice, Rosalie!" Peter cocked his gun.

"Don't shoot him!" Alice and I both exclaimed.

"You can't just go around shooting people, Peter!" Alice exclaimed.

"You wouldn't shoot a poor cat! No, I take it back, you would. But you shouldn't!" I added.

"You have three seconds to rid Heart Castle of your shenanigans." Peter ordered, ignoring us. "One… two… three…" The Cheshire jumped over the hedge, dodging the bullet.

"I can't let this go on any longer." I told Alice as much as myself. I pulled my gun from its holster and pointed it at Peter. "Enough, brother. I won't let you shoot Boris."

"Cat lover!" Peter scoffed.

"Am not!" I barked.

"Are too!" Peter spat. Damn, I was never gonna live this down.

"Put your gun away, Peter," I said. He sighed in annoyance.

"Fine," he said, holstering his gun. "Get our of my sight, cat." Boris jumped onto the hedge and winked at me before disappearing out of sight. I giggled. No way was he leaving the castle. Peter sighed again and continued to walk on.

Vivaldi hadn't changed much. Her corkscrewed brown curls swayed in power and she still wore that angry/bored expression. "Your highness, Alice and Rosalie have come to visit you," Peter announced as we entered. Her face lit up immediately and she gasped.

"Alice! Rosalie! Our two favorite people!" Vivaldi exclaimed. "Come! You must see our chambers!" She stood and led Alice and I through the hallway; Peter was frowning at the queen taking us both but said nothing and didn't follow.

"Wow, Viv, your collection has really grown!" I said upon entering the queen's room. The room was littered with stuffed animals; she'd always loved them.

"Yes, our collection has gotten better," she said, grabbing her favorite teddy bear off of her bed and hugging it. "Tea?" Alice and I nodded, knowing we would be here for a while.

A few hours later, Peter was walking me through the forest. "I was really hoping to visit Gowland, Blood, Elliot, and even the twins too," I told him.

"Next time, then." He promised, stopping at the line that separated Cloverland from Heartland.

"Next time," I nodded before stepping over the boundary. I kept walking and didn't look back. Soon, a girl joined me. She had honey-blond hair and rabbit ears. I knew she wore a green and purpled hoody similar to my red and yellow one. She, too, wore a pleated skirt but hers was green instead of my red one. Her striped leggings matched her hoodie where as mine matched my own.

"So how'd it go?" She asked as our matching brown boots splashed through a mud puddle.

"It was great, Echo." I said with a happy sigh.

"Did you see Elliot?" She asked.

"No, I didn't have time," I told her.

"We should both go next time." She said.

"Yeah," I responded. "That was fun… my day in Heartland."


End file.
